tea and rain
by electrikitty
Summary: a chance encounter on a rainy afternoon, between a guard and a maid. / the royal tutor / one-shot / originally from 'royal tutor collection'


**Tea and Rain**

It could never 'drizzle' when Maximilian and Ludwig were on duty at the gates; it always had to be pouring buckets.

Ludwig sighed and swapped his halberd to his other hand. At least the gates were sheltered by a massive stone arch. He knew a lot of the other guards stationed around the palace perimeter weren't quite as lucky. Rain blew across the driveway and misted the cobblestones, wetting their polished boots, and Ludwig sighed. It would be fine if it were merely raining… but it was freezing too.

He shook himself and gave himself a stern lecture: _Enough of that! It is an honour to defend these gates and I'll do so to my dying day! _But it was a little harder to be enthusiastic in this kind of weather, he had to admit.

He turned, thinking to make some passing remark to his companion— only to see that Maximilian had fallen asleep against the wall with his halberd propped at his side.

'_Oi!_ Get a hold of yourself!' He shook Maximilian by the shoulder until the younger guard's uniform rattled, then shoved the misplaced halberd back into Maximilian's hands. 'I've a mind to make you give me a thousand pushups for that!'

'Aww…' Maximilian grumbled. 'Have a heart.' He crossed his arms behind his head and wrinkled his nose at the sheets of rain coming down outside the arch. 'I can't help it that I fall asleep in rainy weather.'

'You can very well help it — '

But Maximilian wasn't paying attention, instead looking over Ludwig's shoulder. His brow creased. 'What's up with Drill Curls over there?'

'What?'

Ludwig turned to see one of the young maids sprinting across the palace driveway and through the rain, with one hand over her head and an armload of stuff under one arm.

'What's she doing out here?' Ludwig said. He couldn't even think of her name, come to think of it. Alarm gripped him, and he took a step towards her. 'Could something be wrong in the palace?'

But she dashed the last couple of steps and skidded to a halt, and held out two metal flasks. 'H-Hi! We thought that you all might like some… t-tea! If you have to be out in this awful weather…'

'Eh, you're serious?' Maximilian grinned and took her up on the offer, unscrewing the flask in a curl of steam. 'You're an angel!'

Ludwig blinked. 'For us? Really?'

She turned to him — wide, curious eyes the colour of wet opals, and soft yellow hair that was set in two drill-like curls that dripped with water. 'Y-Yes! Yes.'

'…Thank you.' He took the flask, but he still couldn't think what her name was. It was annoying him to the extent that he felt like he needed to ask.

She stepped back into the rain, and he stepped after her, holding out a hand, saying, 'Wait, what was your name again?'

She paused. The rain halved her in a curtain of silver glitter. She smiled. 'Helene!'

And she dashed off, her black skirts billowing as her boots clattered over the driveway. Ludwig stepped back into the shadows of the arch, and took a sip of tea.

Maximilian smirked at him over the rim of his flask. 'You're staring.'

And Ludwig promptly sprayed that mouthful of tea all over Maximilian's uniform.

'_Hey!_'

'I was not!' Ludwig protested.

'Uh, no, Luddy — you actually were.'

It took him a few good seconds to realise that he couldn't argue. He blushed bright red. It wasn't as though he never thought about women — and if anything, that sort of talk took up a good part of many of the guards' spare time. But he thought himself above that kind of thing. Yet here he was, struck dumb like a schoolboy by a pretty girl who happened to cross his path. Pretty and well-mannered. Nice to look at, and someone he wasn't past seeing himself with —

_Enough of that!_ he told himself. Yet for all his flustered self-admonishment, he realised, to his consternation… that he couldn't find a valid reason to put it from his mind.

'Aww, man!' Maximilian complained. 'You got tea all over my uniform!'

And Ludwig shoved him out into the rain, saying, 'Then go and wash it off, you fool!'

'You're _horrible_! And I didn't even — ugh, my tea! I hate watery tea! _Ugh!_'

Ludwig laughed, taking another sip of his tea. 'Are you done?'

'Oh, stop it — you're getting a little full of yourself considering that she barely gave you the time of day.'

'Spin it however you want — I was still the one she talked to, not _you_, in case you didn't notice.' Ludwig raised his eyebrows. 'I have grounds to brag here.'

'She only talked to _you_ because she wouldn't have wanted to talk to _me_ because I'm a _noble_!' Maximilian sighed dramatically. 'The poor dear. I don't bite…'

'I don't think as many people give two cents about your rank as you think they do.'

'Are _you_ done?!'

'Not quite. I'm still waiting on those pushups.'

'_Ludwig!_'

He chuckled, and glanced back at the palace. He'd be hard-pressed to keep his mind on the job now, he supposed. The view of the palace was so much nicer — especially if Helene chanced to grace its windows.

_The End_

* * *

**A/N:** Reviews welcome, and thanks for reading! And that is the last of the re-posted stories from _Royal Tutor Collection_, my darlin's, so look forward to some new stories in the future!


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